Anger as NHS parking scandal will get worse with sufferers shelling out £146million
Hospital sufferers and guests have been pressured to fork out £146million on automobile parking final yr – a large 50% rise in simply 12 months.
Tories have been accused of imposing a “tax on caring” after failing to stay as much as their manifesto pledge to finish unfair parking prices. It means an estimated £400,000 was spent per day in England, information reveals.
At the identical time charges paid by hospital employees rocketed eight-fold from £5.6million in 2021/22 to £46.7million in 2022/23 – sparking warnings that the prices may pressure medics to depart. The improve got here after prices which have been scrapped through the Covid pandemic have been introduced again in March.
The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust – the place it prices £3.60 to park for as much as an hour – raked within the highest earnings from parking. It earned £5.2million from affected person parking and £2.8million from employees, official information reveals. It was amongst 64 NHS trusts which earned greater than £1million from affected person and customer parking.
The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust obtained virtually £3.6million from the general public however nothing from employees, accounts present. And the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust raised slightly below £3million from sufferers and guests and almost £1.6million from employees.
Analysis of NHS England figures by the Lib Dems uncovered the huge will increase. The occasion’s well being and social care spokeswoman Daisy Cooper stated: “Hospital automobile parking charges have gotten a tax on caring for guests and our hard-working NHS employees. This Conservative authorities is completely failing to ship on their promise to crack down on unfair hospital parking charges, and individuals are actually paying the value.
“It is unthinkable that Rishi Sunak is slashing NHS funding when hospitals are already on the brink. This will just make the cash crisis facing local health services even worse, forcing them to make more impossible choices in the years ahead.”
The figures have sparked warnings of an NHS staff exodus. Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: “For nursing staff and support workers, the soaring cost of parking takes too much of their low wage.
“Nurses work around the clock to be there for their patients – and working odd shift times or in difficult locations means public transport is not always possible. District nurses even pay their own fuel costs to travel to patients.
“Government and the NHS must rethink – leaving nursing staff out of pocket just for doing their jobs is wholly unfair. Ministers need to invest in nursing, otherwise even more will leave this brilliant profession – and it will be patients who ultimately pay the price.”
Current NHS guidance says that disabled people, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying overnight and staff working night shifts must not be forced to pay car parking fees. But aside from these groups, NHS trusts can decide how much they charge.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “We will always support hardworking NHS staff and have delivered on our commitment to provide free hospital car parking in England for those most in need.
“As of October 2022, all trusts that charge for car parking have fully implemented this commitment. This is the first time that free hospital car parking in England has been made available to those who need it the most.”
Back in 2019 the Tories pledged to “finish unfair hospital automobile parking prices” by making parking free for these in biggest want. A Conservative Party spokesman shot again: “The Conservatives have fulfilled their manifesto pledge to finish unfair prices for these in biggest want. The Lib Dems ought to come clear as to which companies they might minimize to subsidise parking additional.”
